The present invention relates to a cable television system for delivery of television programming, on demand movies, and interactive services, (such as Internet, e-mail, video shopping and video games) to a subscriber's residence.
Over the past decade, video on demand systems have found widespread use in the lodging industry to provide movies, interactive guest services, and (more recently) interactive video games to a hotel guest. These systems allow the hotel guest to view a movie, or play a video game, when the guest wants to, rather than at a regularly scheduled time.
Providing video on demand (VOD) services as part of a residential cable television system has been proposed for more than two decades. Beginning in the late 1970s, experimental cable television systems with VOD services have been operated in Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. VOD systems have been the subject of hundreds of technical articles, newspaper reports and patents. Despite this extensive activity, VOD technology has not, as yet, found significant commercial application outside the lodging industry.